


Cenn

by Requiem16



Series: Stormlight Daemon AU [1]
Category: Stormlight Archive - Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Angst, Gen, This is what happens when you write a fic 8 chapters into the first book, What Have I Done, no happy ending, short fic is short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-23
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-05-10 09:57:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14734787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Requiem16/pseuds/Requiem16
Summary: Brief snapshots of Cenn and his daemon. These chapters are going to be short as all hell, sorry





	1. Nala

**Author's Note:**

  * For [werealldreaming](https://archiveofourown.org/users/werealldreaming/gifts).



_“war is the sea I swim in and the air I breathe.”_ -Philip Pullman

From as long as he could remember, Cenn had had Nala. Nala, with her steadfast loyalty and her quiet determination. The way she listened to him in a way that made him feel special in a world where he was nothing but a commoner who would never be able to accomplish anything special.

With Nala, Cenn felt like he could do anything, be anything, rise above the rest and accomplish something. Maybe he would become a stormwarden, rise above his station to be acknowledged. He didn’t care about those who cried heretic. Cenn wanted to go out and do something, something that would make his mother proud, stop her from crying as he knew she did in times when she thought of his father, or that tiredness, the guilt in her eyes as she looked at Cenn, unknowing of how to tell a child that there wasn’t any food left.

It was when he was 10 that Cenn had declared to his mother that he would be a mighty general when he grew up, one that could protect everyone. Someone who would make sure that they lived comfortably and never had to worry about hunger again. He had never quite forgotten the look on his mother’s face, the fear as he told her of his aspirations of becoming a soldier.

_“She knew, war is a hell unlike any other. Why couldn’t you have listened to her? Where are you, Cenn? Please come back.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First fic, I know it's bad


	2. It's going to be okay

Cenn couldn’t remember the soldier’s face or the exact words he said at the town meeting. 

He remembered feeling awed as he saw the lighteyed officer that came to recruit them. The officer told him repeatedly of what an honor it was to serve under Brightlord Amaram, that it was his duty and that everyone should be proud to have been selected to serve. He had been so proud to join, impulsively volunteering when he was asked to.

Cenn remembered the rush of pride, the exhilaration he had felt as he took a step closer to his goal, closer to making his mother proud but… Nala was so still, only looking at his mother. She had looked so scared and the brief moment of joy that Cenn had felt at the opportunity given to him faded. He had felt only dread as he looked over to his mother crying and shaking even as Miss Lana from the house next to theirs tried in vain to comfort her. 

Even Bjorn, her rabbit daemon, was watching him, but instead of the quiet pride that he always seemed to have when he looked at Cenn, there was only… disappointment. Cenn had tried to get the officer’s attention, feeling only fear now as he tried to say that he had been wrong, that he didn’t want to go, but the lighteyes only shook his head, shooing Cenn away before he could say another word. _It was too late by then. Cenn, why? Mother was already proud of you, didn’t you know that?_

He felt like he was drowning under the looks of pity the others were giving him- They knew what would happen- but he knew that he had to get to his mother, to apologize so she wouldn’t look so sad. There were so many promises that he had made to her, promises that he would be okay, that he loved her and would come back soon _but we didn’t and I’m so, so sorry._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Constructive criticism is always appreciated


	3. This is goodbye

It was like nothing Cenn had ever expected. Battles were supposed to be something glorious, something where lighteyes rode in on their horses and shiny armor, striking down the enemy and showing off their skills. Darkeyes like him would be able to prove their worth, catching the attention of those in command so they could be promoted, proving their worth.

….He had never really understood that people _died._ Death seemed like something distant, yet another way to prove one’s honor. Cenn had known it happened, of course, but he could ignore it in favor of the tales that were told to him by the older children. It never truly struck him the way it did now. There was no ignoring this senseless massacre on both sides.

Cenn can faintly hear Nala whispering encouragement to him, telling him that it would be okay. Kaladin was here, Kaladin who the men trusted to keep them alive, the one that had thought he was special enough to specifically be brought under his command and kept safe. 

Nala straightened up from where she had been hiding near him, taking the form of the animal she had told him was a wolfhound as he felt a brief spark of pride. Cenn wanted to make Kaladin proud, to prove that he was right to take him under his command. To do that, however, he would have to learn quickly. And that meant… that meant taking lives. 

He felt a surge of doubt at that thought. Cenn didn’t want to kill anyone, not really. He wants to go home to his mother, no matter how disappointed she was. Because no matter how upset she was, at least it would be better than this terrible, terrible place where men took each others’ lives without a second thought.

Cenn is abruptly torn out of his thoughts- _Cenn, what are you doing? Run, getawayhidepleasedon’tleaveme_ -as he saw the enemy squad draw near. Nonono, he had to get away, Almighty save him, they were going to- 

Kaladin arrives with the swiftness of a hawk that Nala sometimes turned into, deflecting the blow that should have killed Cenn. Cenn could do nothing but watch in stunned silence as the one that the other soldiers called Stormblessed fought with a ferocity that he had never seen before, the daemon at his side in the form of a wolf. _The other daemons call them dangerous, but they aren’t, Cenn. They represent loyalty. You can trust him, he’ll protect you._

Cenn can’t move, not with the wound he has, or the shock he feels. He’s captivated by Kaladin as he kneels- should his captain really kneel? He didn’t think so- in front of him to treat his wound. Things will be okay now, he thinks. His captain is here. 

_If only._

***********************************************************

Nala can’t breathe.

Cenn isn’t moving, _why isn’t he moving?_

She doesn’t look at this Shardbearer in his glowing armor, looking as though the Almighty himself had deigned to walk upon this Earth.

Above all else, Nala had to keep Cenn safe like she had promised mother, as she had wept for her child gone off to war, never to return. _No_ she tells herself firmly. _Cenn is going to be okay, we’re going to go home and everything will be okay again. Even if I have to fight the Almighty himself._

Nala fights off the urge to go mouse formed- _so she’ll be safe, nothing can hurt her if she just hides_ -and continues her efforts to get Cenn moving so she can save him. _“It’ll be alright” something whispers to her. This was meant to be._ And it can’t be, Cenn is right there and she can save him, she knows she can.

But Cenn stands there in awe at the shardbearer even as Nala breaks down, crying and shrieking for him to move, run, do something, _anything._

******************************************************************

It’s too late, of course.

Nala can barely think past the haze of pain, can only crawl weakly onto Cenn’s chest as he lays there, dying. Killed on a whim as the Shardbearer didn’t even bother to use his sword, trampling over them like they were nothing but common vermin.

Her Cenn.

_Dying._

Nala fights back a hysterical laugh because how could this have gone so wrong? Surely this was a dream, this couldn’t possibly be real.

Something is making a low, awful sound, and she realizes with a jolt of surprise that it’s her.

Nala doesn’t understand why it had to be her, why it had to be Cenn. She hadn’t even settled yet, she would never be able to settle. Nala wants to scream, to shake that cursed lighteyes that first came to recruit them and to ask him why he could have possibly allowed this to happen.

...Most of all, she blames herself for allowing this to happen. There was no justice in this world and her dreams, Cenn’s dreams were nothing but wishful thinking. Nala can’t help but be bitter, there was nothing there for them after all. Just this awful sensation, dying.

She could barely look around, _where was Kaladin? He can help us, they said that everything would be okay if we stayed with him._

But he’s grieving, he can’t do anything. No one can, anymore, in the face of this Shardbearer who nonchalantly cuts down men without gaining so much as an injury.

Cenn had thought he was noble, this Shardbearer with his shiny armor and sword and everything that Cenn himself had wanted to be, _but Cenn, what’s more noble than Kaladin? He went down on his knees for you, protected you. That, that is what real honor looks like. Nala thought Cenn was wrong about the Shardbearer. It had been Kaladin who was noble like the Radiants of old, before they had turned and thrown away their duty._

Nala hopes that Kaladin will live, even if the rest of them don’t. She hopes that he will continue to live on and remember them, even if no one else does, but mother, who will wait in her home, waiting for her child who will never come home.

Distantly, she hears Cenn gasp out his last words, but she can’t hear them, only closes her eyes and changes forms for the last time before fading.

_“He watches.”  
“The black piper in the night. He holds us in his palm… playing a tune that no man can hear!”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and... sorry, but you were warned ;D
> 
> Edit: So, just to clarify. There aren’t actually wolves, rabbits, etc. in stormlight, so daemons are just seen as animals who don’t actually exist. This is pretty much why Nala has to explain what certain animals are to Cenn, since he’s never seen them before
> 
> Aka: As interesting as it would be to have all the daemons be ‘chickens’, alas, it didn’t work well


End file.
